5 x 5: Art

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Dioramas are scale models of real scenes, with or without people, that are often used for special effects in films. The Australian War Memorial in Canberra uses a lot of dioramas to depict battles and war scenes. 

Artist and architect Mohamad Hafez, born in Syria and now living in the US, uses found objects and scrap metal to construct dioramas of homes, buildings, and landscapes left by refugees in the Middle East and around the world. He also creates dioramas of the ruins of his homeland, describing it as “an artist witnessing the death of his country.” 

Gallery: 

“We Have Won” 

Detail from “We Have Won” 

 Recent works show ruins and homelands in suitcases, symbolising the journeys of refugees and what they have left behind. 

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From Colossal at www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/12/new-works-from-banksy-at-the-the-jungle-refugee-camp-in-calais/

Based on an update to his website this morning it appears Banksy visited the Jungle Refugee Camp in Calais, France, one of the largest refugee camps in western Europe. The artist left behind four new artworks, most notably a piece featuring Steve Jobs carrying an early Macintosh computer and a sack over his shoulder noting his background as a “son of a migrant from Syria,” (Jobs was adopted, but his biological father was from Syria). In another piece he references Géricault’s famous Raft of Medusa painting, depicting an imperiled group of people on a sinking raft as they hail a modern cruise ship just on the horizon. The artist previously brought attention to the refuge crisis in a piece at Dismaland earlier this year. 

Gallery: 

“The Son of a Migrant from Syria” 

Detail from “The Son of a Migrant from Syria” 

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There is a hit TV show in Korea called “W – Two Worlds” in which the characters enter a fantasy webtoon world. Sorta like Who Framed Roger rabbit? This has inspired a café in Seoul, Cafe Yeonnam-dong 239-20 (which is also its address) to decorate in such a way that you feel you are in a cartoon . . . 

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American artist Matt Wilson uses old silverware mounted on driftwood and old timber to create birds and sea creatures. The works are remarkable for their simplicity, yet creating amazingly detailed scenarios and depictions. 

Gallery:

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Photographs by Robert Miller of Marilyn Monroe, aged 19, before she became famous: